


A Family?

by syooungie



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Adoption, Canon LGBTQ Character, F/F, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:48:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29919195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syooungie/pseuds/syooungie
Summary: Cheshire was left to come up to a decision. To let them adopt or to not?
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Female Character





	A Family?

The bell perched on the counter rang, the small ding! It sent off echoing through the front office. I glanced up from my laptop, meeting the eyes of two young females, bright smiles on their faces, their hands clasped together.

“Hello! I am Mia, and this here is my wife Dana. We are interested in adoption or fostering!”

Said the taller girl, her short black hair highlighted with purple strips.

“OK, I’ll have to ask you guys to leave your numbers on this sheet of paper, we’ll call you back later for important documents and etc.”

I passed the clipboard to them, and a pen, before glancing back down to my laptop, scrolling through the new files for children that had recently been added to our system. I looked through the files, adding notes onto my notebook, making sure to be as accurate as possible with writing down the children’s information.

A gentle thump! Erupted near me, and I glanced back up to see again the 2 girls, who had laid the clipboard back down onto the counter.

“Alrighty! Thank you guys for adding your numbers. So, as usual, the process of adoption and fostering is very long, and you’d need to be patient. I’ll give you guys this small brochure here, which gives tips as well as recommendations for new adopting and fostering parents. You guys may have already researched this beforehand, but I will go through it anyway. So, to apply for adoption, you guys will first of all need to choose a program. Your approval for adoption can be chosen through either Adoption Victoria, which is a government delivered program, or you can choose to apply for one of the four approved non-Government adoption agencies. You will, of course have, to contact the programs of your choice directly. Second, you will then have to register your interest. You basically just have to register your interest to adopt a child through completing the Adoption Victoria questionnaire. This questionnaire covers a variety of questions aimed at identifying your interests, capacity, knowledge, understanding of the needs of children who may require adoption, and etc. You will then be invited to apply to be assessed, which just checks if you are fit and proper to adopt a child. Before you are to be assessed on suitability to adopt, you will need to complete a detailed application and attend education. Once you have attended the education, and received your application, a case manager will meet with you to prepare an assessment report. After that, you will receive mail which will tell you on whether or not you have been approved. After that, you will then be working with us to match you with a child! It’s definitely a very long process, but I will assure you that it’s worth it once you have succeeded. If you are confused, make sure to give us a call, or visit the website justice.vic.gov.au and visit the adoption rights page!”

“Ok, we will make sure to do that! Thank you for helping.”

Said the shorter, her long black hair tied neatly in a ponytail, nodding gently in understanding.  
With that, the couple turns around and exits out of the building, a hot burst of wind from the outside entering the front office.

I picked up the clipboard from the counter, skimming briefly over the information contacts the young couple left.  
Dana and Mia, both aged 25, house telephone, and personal telephone.

“You know, I don’t think you should approve those two to adopt.”

I put the clipboard down to look up at my co-worker, Bethany, a look of disgust on her face.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t think a child should be raised in a same-sex family. It’s untraditional and it promotes the lifestyle of the gays.”

She explained, her words laced with poison and hate.

“Excuse me?”

I asked, my blood turning cold in rage. The audacity of old people.

“You heard what I said. Allowing those 2 to adopt will only turn the poor child away from tradition.”

Bethany turned away, before walking back into the staff room to start her break.  
I took some deep breaths, discomfort and fury weighing in my stomach.

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That night, I went home very unsettled, worries flooding my mind through the ride home. I was going to approve Dana and Mia, but Bethany’s words swam through my head. 

But why should it matter if someone had two mums?  
I mean, as long as they’re good parents, isn’t that what’s important?  
But then again, what if the child doesn’t get a balance of male and female role models?  
But, why should it matter really? Everything should be fine as long as the child is safe, healthy, and happy, right?

I pushed the door of my apartment open, welcoming in the ball of fur into my arms. I shut the door close behind me, dropping my bag off in my bedroom, before plopping down onto the couch, a small sigh escaping my lips. I buried my head into my cats black fur, trying to clear my mind of the thoughts. I stayed there for a while, before making up a decision, and letting go of my cat, walking into my bedroom and taking my laptop out of my bag. I sat down at my desk, before turning the laptop on, immediately opening up Google and typing in the search bar. 

Should LGBTQ+ people be allowed to adopt?

A bunch of websites popped up, and I immediately clicked on the first one.

I Waited for the PDF to download, and opened it up, skimming through the document. 

Hmm, it says here that “A University of Melbourne study suggests that 33.7% of Lesbians and Gay people have experienced homelessness, as well as 25.8% of people who have identified as Bisexual… It also states that other studies have reported that there is also a significantly higher use of illicit substances than the heterosexual community, as well as the LGBTQ+ community having more experiences of mental health. Since these are some of the primary reasons of children being removed from their original families, there is a chance that LGBTQ+ people could help manage trauma of adopted or fostered children, due to their experiences.” They do have a point…

I continued skimming through the document, taking in all of the information.  
\- Over 30 years of peer reviewed research into same-sex parented families shows that children from LGBTQ+ families do as well as children from heterosexual families.  
\- Denying LGBTQ+ parents the right to adoption or foster means that fewer children could be fostered or adopted, since it is found that LGBTQ+ couples are more likely to adopt. 

I exited out of the document, clicking on a different website.

I read through the pros side, before taking note of the cons. It states that:  
\- Since there are people that believe being LGBTQ+ is a sin, this could lead to your child receiving judgement.   
\- Your child could be bullied due to having LGBTQ+ parents.  
I exited out of the website, and started to go in and out of websites, noting the stats and info all of them had to offer. 

Some websites that were against LGBTQ+ adoption suggested that:  
\- Religious and traditional values cannot be maintained if LGBTQ+ people were to be parents.   
\- Kids need a mum and dad to have a proper mix of male and female role models.   
\- LGBTQ+ people won’t be able to provide the upbringing of a traditional family.   
\- Children do better with a mum and a dad.  
\- Homosexuality could bring the end of the human race.  
\- Children should not be subjects of a Gay adoption experiment. 

Websites that supported LGBTQ+ adoption fired back that:  
\- Children of Lesbian parents experience a higher quality of parenting, as well as sons displaying greater gender flexibility, as well as both sons and daughters displaying more open-mindedness towards sexual, gender, and family diversity.  
\- Lesbian parents have been found to have greater parenting skills and devotes more time to parenting, compared to heterosexual parents.   
\- In a meta-analysis conducted in the US, it was found that on an average, planned Lesbian-parented families have a higher quality relationship with their children, compared to children in heterosexual-families.  
\- The sexuality of parents do not have an impact on the child’s future.  
\- There are no scientific studies that actually prove that LGBTQ+ parents are any less fit or capable than heterosexual families, nor that their children are any less psychologically healthy and well adjusted. 

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, letting myself bask in the information I had just taken in. Opening my eyes, I let the breath out and shut my laptop off, before coming into piece with my mind. 

I had made my decision. 

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◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢

5 Years Later

I knocked on the wooden door, a small smile tugging at my face. I fiddled slightly with my fingers, fixing the strap of my white tote bag. The door opened slowly, Dana welcoming me in with a hug.

“Hey! Welcome, Cheshire, come in!”

She smiled, hugging me tightly, before urging me inside the townhouse. Next to the door sat a shoe rack, a variety of shoes placed on the wooden rack. I caught sight of tiny, ballet flats, next to two pairs of bigger matching ones. I chuckled silently to myself, before ripping my eyes back to the entrance of the house, where a portrait picture of the family of three hung, framed in black. Dana was wearing a pretty white dress, Mia next to her wearing a similar grey dress. In between them sat Naomi, wearing a matching purple dress. They seemed to be overseas, taking a nice family vacation. It’s been 5 years since Dana and Mia had adopted Naomi, who had just been a newborn baby then. The day Naomi had been adopted was a day that stuck really well in my memories. Mia and Dana had been crying, filled with emotions to finally have been approved as parents and to have been approved to adopt Naomi. I remember having to comfort the new parents of their worries, telling them how great they have been doing.

“Hey, welcome Cheshire! Back for your yearly check-up?”

Mia jokes, pulling me gently into a hug.

“Yeah, shouldn’t take too long.”

I grinned into her shoulder, before breaking the hug off. A tiny patter of feet ran through the room, Naomi rushing to my legs, her arms gripping my legs in a hug. I ruffled her hair gently, Naomi grinning up to me.

“Hi Aunty Cheshire!”

“Hello, my favourite niece!”

I greeted back. I heaved her into my arms, carrying her further into the house. Mia and Dana trailed behind us, hands clasped together, their silver rings glinting through the sunlight. I stepped into the living room, placing Naomi down at the round table, where she sat down on a cushion and continued colouring in her Hello Kitty colouring book. I sat down on the couch, Dana and Mia sitting down across me, Mia handing me a cup of coffee. I thanked her and took a sip, before catching up with the family.

“So, how have you guys been so far this year?”

“Ah, we’ve been doing great, actually! Naomi just started going to school last week, and she’s been adjusting pretty well! She’s also made a lot of friends too, which relieves me knowing how shy Naomi could be.”

Dana answers, a small smile forming on her face.

“Ah, that’s great! She seems to be really healthy too. You guys have done well in raising her.”

I said, writing down the report in my notebook, filling the page in with more information as Dana and Mia talk on.  
It took a few hours for us to finish, night pouring in through the windows. Dana and Mia invited me to stay for dinner, which I was fine with since they were my last check-up of the day. 

Over the years, Mia and Dana had formed a friendship with me, and I was able to see their little family grow and learn over the years. They proved well just how wrong Bethany was, and showed how great parents they really were. The couple sat down at the opposite side of me on the dining table, placing the plates of food down. Naomi was sitting next to me, boosted up by a small cushion on her chair. She was asking politely for her food, thanking her mum’s for the food they placed onto her plate. Her mum’s smiled proudly, everyone starting to eat.

I knew I made the right decision.


End file.
